Man blackmails people posing as YouTube employee, nabbed
The Delhi Police arrested a person, who impersonated as a YouTube employee and a local enforcement official, for duping a person on the pretext of uploading his objectionable videos on YouTube, officials said on Tuesday.
The accused has been identified as Sahid (27).
Officials said the accused was posing as “Rahul Sharma from YouTube” and “Inspector Surender from Cyber Crime, Delhi Police” to extort money from victims by threatening to upload their objectionable videos on YouTube. “He targeted hundreds of people across the country, using WhatsApp video calls to record compromising footage and later demanding hefty amount to prevent their release on social media,” they said.
The police said the accused would initially establish contact with victims via social media platforms, gaining their trust before luring them into compromising situations over WhatsApp video calls. Subsequently, he would assume false identities —often that of a YouTube employee or a police officer — to coerce victims into paying money under the threat of publicly releasing their private videos.
“Many victims, fearing reputational damage, transferred substantial amount to his accounts. One such complainant ended up paying over Rs 25 lakh in multiple transactions after being blackmailed,” said DCP (Cyber Cell, Crime) Aditya Gautam.
A case was registered under Sections 384 (extortion), 419 (cheating by impersonation), 420 (cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property) and 120-B (criminal conspiracy) of the IPC.
“Following extensive technical surveillance and ground intelligence, our team traced the accused’s movements to multiple locations, including Nuh in Haryana and Bharatpur in Rajasthan. Eventually, we located and arrested him from Yamunanagar, Haryana,” the DCP added.
He was presented before the court, which sent him to five-day police custody for further investigations. Sahid revealed that he had studied up to the third grade at a government school in Nuh, Haryana.
